Aliens Of Jenalk: The Complete Series (Books 1-4)
Page 55
SILVER BROOKS
It was now or never!
“You can do this, Silver. You can leave this godforsaken rock and go to Earth, just as you always dreamed. Just crawl along the floor quietly, and by all means, don’t get caught,” I whispered to myself as I stared at my reflection in the shiny, stainless steel wall. I was on all fours, trying to crawl to freedom, or so I thought at the time; how could I have known what would really happen?
I studied my reflection, trying to talk courage into myself. I looked as I always did, with my red hair in knots around my face. Everyone had knotted hair because of the necessary water rationing and lack of proper soaps like they had on Earth—or so I heard.
Dirt: that seemed to be everywhere in this place. It was on my face and arms that looked like ash and soot. My green eyes pierced through the dirt on my pale skin that was speckled with freckles. My brown pants and sweater were made of wool and they were hand me downs, with patches sewn here and there. This was the standard look that everyone on this mining planet wore. I only hoped that it was good for space travel. I supposed it would have to do.
I peeked around the corner inside the launch room and waited until the crewmen had their backs turned to me. As soon as they did, I scurried quietly on all fours, hiding behind various boxes and items as I made my way to the cargo ship from Earth. This particular ship came every three years on a regular cycle. It was a bride ship that brought women from Earth to be wives to the miners that were stationed here. This is how my mother had made it to this planet over twenty years ago, and how I had planned to leave, or escape.
The ship had been here for a month after bringing twenty new brides and eight new miners. Now it was scheduled to leave for Earth in less than two hours with a large load of silver. My plan was to get on the ship and hide until it was too late for the ship to turn around and bring me back to the mining planet. They would have no choice but to take me to Earth. I would prefer to hide the entire time on the ship, but unless I could find a good hiding spot with food, water, and a toilet, I would have to come out eventually. For now, I was taking it one step at a time and I just needed to get on the ship and hide.
“What was that?” a male voice said. I froze at his words. I was well hidden behind a large table, but I thought I had been caught.
“That was the new weighing scale. It makes that noise after calculating the load,” the other man said. I sighed in relief and picked up my head slowly to see that the men were focused on the preparations for loading the silver as they continued to talk.
“This entire ship has been overhauled with new equipment. We had some trouble with it on the way here and the auto pilot veered off course a bit, but we corrected it in time.”
I continued crawling toward the cargo bay door that was opened, laying like a long ramp. They continued to talk about the mechanics and such as I slowly stood up and walked quietly up the ramp and into the ship. Once I was in, I still had to be cautious as I didn’t know who was on the ship already.
I quietly crossed the vast, cavernous space of the cargo bay and into the main quarters of the ship. I soon found a large closet to hide in and remained there, very nervous and very quiet. I didn’t let myself relax an ounce until I felt the engines of the ship come alive. Then the sensation of flying hit me, or at least that’s what I assumed it was. I had never felt anything like it before. I had always been on the ground.
I was born on the silver mining planet Merton Loy, one of many desolate and barren planets that Earth mined. This particular planet had large amounts of silver, and since it was this element that brought my parents together, they thought it was a good name for their one and only daughter: me. Growing up on the barren rock called Merton Loy, I always longed for escape, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.
I had desired to see and live on Earth as soon as I first heard about it when I was a child. This is when the first bride ship came in and then took the silver loads. That was when my mother first told me about where the ship came from. She told me about her time living on Earth and what it was like for her. She told me that her adventurous spirit made her want to see space and experience a different place. She was very happy living on this barren rock of Merton Loy as she saw it as different and unusual. For me, it was all that I had ever known and I longed to see Earth. I guess I inherited my adventurous spirit from my mother and father, as that is what brought them here in the first place. Now, they both had passed away and I was left on my own on Merton Loy.
Then it happened. The local government mandated me to marry. I did not want to. They said I could choose any miner that I wanted, but I had to do it within twelve months. That’s when I planned this escape. I could not marry someone that I did not love and I had not met any miner that I loved. Some of them were good friends and nice, but love it was not. I did not want to give in to a loveless marriage for the sake of keeping the miners happy. I wanted to see Earth. I wanted to experience space. I wanted so much more. I soon fell asleep thinking about these thoughts as I crouched down on the floor in the closet.
When I awoke, I didn’t know if I had allowed enough time to make it impossible for the ship to turn around, but I was very thirsty and hungry. I quietly opened the door and looked around. No one was in the area. I made my way to the wall and looked out a small, round window; the blackness of space surrounded us. It was beautiful. After nearly bringing myself to tears, I finally pulled myself from the view and began to tiptoe around the ship.
I had never been on a ship before, so the layout was foreign to me. I walked down a long corridor not seeing anyone, and by luck, I peeked into the glass area of a door and saw the kitchen. I quietly entered and looked around. I wondered if it was sleeping hours on the ship because there was no sign that the kitchen had been used recently. I carefully drank water and ate a dehydrated meal of rice and vegetables. Then I thought, maybe I could stay hidden a while longer. I could take food and water with me right now. But first, I had to find the toilet. I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall, but all the doors were shut, and there were no glass windows like the kitchen had. This would be hard to find.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” a voice yelled.
I was startled as I turned around and saw a man with black hair in a grey jumpsuit coming toward me.
“I’m looking for the toilet,” I said.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be on this ship,” he said.
“Where are we? How far from Merton Loy?” I asked.
He looked at me confused and then said, “How did you get on this ship? Who are you?” he asked again.
I steeled myself. “Look, I will answer all your questions, but I really feel like my bladder is about to bust. So if you will show me to the toilet, I will answer your questions. It’s not like I can run away,” I said trying to reason with the man.
“In here,” he said as he pushed open the door next to me. Damn it, I was so close.
“Thank you,” I said as I went in.
“I will wait out here,” he said.
As I was inside the bathroom, I heard the man call through the intercom. “Wake up the captain. It seems that we have a stowaway from Merton Loy on the ship.”
I was disappointed as I finished and stepped out of the bathroom. I did not want the captain alerted so early on. I was hoping to spend more time dodging the important questions.
“Come this way,” the man said as he waited for me outside the bathroom.
“What is your name?” I asked him.
“Trevor; what is yours?” he asked in return.
“Silver,” I said. He stopped and gave me a strange look. Then he kept walking. Soon he led me into a room with long benches and a table; it looked like the lounge in the Merton Loy cafeteria rooms. I sat and waited nervously, wondering if they would turn around. I hoped that they would not. Soon Trevor and another man walked back in. The other man looked furious. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and he was older—maybe fifty ye
ars old.
“What the hell are you doing on my ship?” he asked in a very stern tone.
“I…I….” It was all I could say in my frightened state. Then I thought of a lie—a very good one.
“Good spit it out girl! How did you get here?” the captain asked.
“I was just curious about the ship. When it was at the dock, I just wanted to take a look. I climbed on board to see it. It’s such a beautiful ship. Then I guess I fell asleep. I just woke up and walked down the hall when Trevor found me.”
Both of the men were silent as they thought over my words. They were sort of true as these men did not need to know that I purposefully stowed away, and perhaps this would help to clear my name when we arrived on Earth. It was just an honest mistake. I waited to see if they would buy it.
“Damn it! Twenty years of flying and I have not had one thing go wrong on one of my missions, and now that I’m retiring this happens. Crap!” the captain yelled as he moved back in the room. Trevor folded his arms across his chest and seemed to be holding back a laugh.
“Well, we’re too far to turn back to Merton Loy; we don’t have the fuel for that. I guess you will have to go back with us to Earth. Then the authorities can deal with you,” the captain said.
I stopped myself from jumping up and down and simply said, “Thank you, and my apologies.”
“Put her in one of the bunks and get her some food and drink,” the captain said to Trevor.
“Yes, sir,” Trevor responded.
Minutes later, I was in a private bunk with a small bed and a table. Trevor brought in a tray of food and water and said, “Get some sleep. It’s going to be a long journey. Right now is our nighttime, even though there is no night. We all wake in four hours, our morning.”
“Yes, thank you, Trevor,” I said smiling.
“You’re welcome Silver,” he said as he left. As soon as he was gone, I did jump up down. “I’m going to Earth. I’m going to Earth,” I repeated excitedly.
For the next two days, the ship headed toward Earth and I was already planning the locations that I wanted to see and experience. The four-man crew was polite, but not much for conversation. That was fine with me as the less I had to talk, the less likely it was that I would expose that this was all part of a plan. But then it all went wrong.
Sirens blared as red lights flashed. I jumped up from bed and ran toward the flight deck.
“What is it? What happened?” I yelled.
“We’re being pulled in!” Trevor yelled.
“The beam is too strong!” the captain yelled.
“Beam! What?” I shouted as I watched them pushing buttons and flipping switches.
“We are in a pull beam! They are pulling us onto their moon base!” the captain shouted.
“Who are? What?” I shouted.
“It’s the Kalazaron! We’re all screwed,” Trevor said.
“We are nowhere near their planet. How did we get here?” the captain said.
“Damn, it’s the auto pilot. It’s on the fritz again,” Trevor said as he moved over to a wall of switches.
I had no idea what they were talking about. I did not know what Kalazaron meant. I did understand that the ship was moving against our will and that was bad. I, and the entire crew of men, watched out the window as the ship was pulled toward a small, silver moon next to a large, blue planet. My eyes were wide with fear. There was a large base on the moon and it looked ominous.
Moments later, I was able to truly understand what it meant when a ship was being pulled by force.
“Humans! Put your hands in the air high over your head and exit without trouble,” a large, tall, alien said to us as a group boarded the now parked ship.
We did as they asked as they pointed guns at us. Of course our crew had arms as well, but there was no reason to put up a fight. The blue aliens outnumbered us and we could not get off the moon with our ship pulled in anyway. I realized in that moment that I would never see Earth. I was now a captive.
As we walked with blue alien guards around us, I got a good look at them. The beings were very tall—between seven and eight feet. They looked like human men, only more elongated and very muscular. Their skin was tinted blue in various places and it was very beautiful to look at.
They wore warrior like clothing, like I had seen in books before. Mostly I had seen it in history books in school, like the Roman gladiators we studied of ancient Earth. There was leather-like material that covered their lower half, like a short skirt. They wore sturdy boots and their bare chests were crossed with leather-like straps that held their weapons. On their arms were leather-like cuffs that went from wrist to elbow.
Besides these unique details, they looked like men—very attractive and athletic men. I had never seen anything like it. Yes, the miners on Merton Loy were muscular due to their occupation, but a lot of them were sickly from breathing in mining dust. They were nothing compared to these alien beings.
We were led off the ship and into a large room. “Sergeant Hafah, these are the humans that were on the ship,” one of the beings said to another alien warrior that walked in. This new warrior, called Sergeant Hafah, caught my attention immediately.
He looked a bit different than the others, with long, dirty-blond hair, blue eyes, and a look that reminded me of the Viking warriors that I read about in Earth history class at the school on Merton Loy. That look fascinated me, as it reminded me of Earth. His blue-tinted skin reminded me of the war paint that the Vikings would decorate their bodies with. This Sergeant Hafah had a very stern, almost angry look on his face. His full lips were tightly pressed together and his masculine chest heaved up and down as he stood in front of us.
“What were you humans doing in our airspace? It is forbidden,” he said with a booming voice as he stood his ground firmly.
“I am the captain of the ship,” the captain said.
“Then speak, Captain. Why were you in our airspace? Is this an attack? Speak truthfully,” Sergeant Hafah asked.
“No. We were on autopilot and the ship must have gone off course without us realizing it. It is a very small crew, as you can see. We were on our way back to Earth and this is a mistake,” the captain said.
“I don’t believe you. What is in the cargo?” the sergeant said, turning to one of his guards.
“It is a large quantity of silver. We are checking the ship logs and manifest now to see where the ship was headed and why,” the guard said.
“Good. For now, put the males in the cages. I will question them later and then they will be transferred to the slave work systems. Put the female in a room quarter.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” the guard said.
The sergeant looked at me, and the expression that came across his face could only be described as repulsive. He was disgusted with me as he ran his eyes over my body and up to my face. I felt a sting of hatred and hurt fill my heart. Was he not used to seeing female humans, or was it me particularly that he did not like? He sort of grunted before walking off. I had never felt that way before, and it would not be the last.
The guards pushed us forward, away from our ship and further into the base. I looked around at the glass-domed moon base. I could only assume that this moon had no atmosphere or gravity, much like Earth’s moon. I did not see any beings outside the base. The space was beautiful and very technologically advanced. It was much prettier than anything I saw on Merton Loy.
Then I heard the guards behind us say something that sent chills down my spine.
“Commander Yun used to make us kill the males and only keep the females as slaves. Sergeant Hafah does things differently here on the Tyla Wen moon base.”
“Yes, you are new here but you will see. He has put the males to better use.”
That is when we were separated. The male crew was taken down one hall and I was taken into another. I was scared to be separated like this, but what could I do?
“In here, human female,” the guard said as he pushed me roughly.
I felt angry and embarrassed. I really didn’t think I was all that dirty. Dirt was a part of life on Merton Loy because it was a mining outpost. There was no way around it, but they made me feel like I was some sort of outsider, even in comparison to the humans they had already seen. It was embarrassing. I sighed and looked around my prison. Was this really better than being on Merton Loy? I had only escaped because I thought I was going to Earth. Now I was stuck on this moon base where I couldn’t even go outside.
I sat and cried. Had I made a mistake? This moon was just as barren as Merton Loy. Though there was something here that I did not have back on the mining planet, and that was an unpredictable future. On Merton Loy, I was going to have to marry a miner and have children—and that would be my life. Here I had no idea what was going to happen. I knew that I would have no freedom as a female slave, but at least I would see different things and that gave me a sense of hope.